National Technology Day - Technology transforms Rural India

India celebrates National Technology Day today as it marks 18 years of 1998 nuclear tests. Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted about the significance of the day and what made it possible for India to conduct the nuclear tests in 1998.

PM Modi who advocates use of technology to bring in participative and transparent governance while addressing Digital India dialogue had told last year that, "Technology empowers the less empowered. If there is a strong force that bring a change in the lives of those on the margins it is technology".

PM while addressing 103rd Indian Science Congress had again reiterated that, "Good governance is not just about policy and decision making, transparency and accountability. It is also about integrating science and technology into the choices we make and the strategies we pursue".

Urban India has gained a lot thanks to the use of technology now it is the turn of rural India to progress using technology. Here are some examples of use of technology that has helped rural India specifically:

Duplicate beneficiaries removed:

To ensure that benefits reach maximum number of needy people the government of India adopted Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) which has till date ensured that 6 lakh duplicate kerosene subsidy beneficiaries were removed from the list of beneficiaries.

On the similar lines 1.5 lakh duplicate pension beneficiaries have also been removed and so have 1.62 bogus ration cards been deleted. This simple move has saved Rs. 10,000 crore for the government. Similarly by use of technology in Kerala Rs. 600 crore were saved by removing duplicate teachers.

The technology also helped Haryana state to remove enrolments of 4.5 lakh duplicate students.

Soil testing labs:

Government has sanctioned 12 times more soil test labs than in the two year of the UPA government. Soil testing labs have created 30,000 new jobs for samplers and 10,000 new jobs for technicians. Also Agriculture Skill Council of India (ASCI) has created training modules for soil samplers, lab assistant and lab analyst.

ATMs for India Post:

In May 2014 there were only four ATMs operated by the Indian Post Office. As on May 2016 there are now 913 ATMs. Not just that but now with 21,664 branches Indian Post Office is core banking network of India in just two year. In May 2014 there were just 230 branches of Post Office in India.

Optical fibre laid in rural areas:

To realise the dream of Digital India, the government is laying optical fibre to connect villages with broadband. Last week 1,158 kms of optical fibre was laid. In last two years 50,465 gram panchayats have been reached by laying 1,12,884 kms of optical fibre.

GARV app:

Power Minister Piyush Goyal at the Power Focus Summit had told that he was going to turn everything into an app and he was going to allow people to monitor daily what work his ministry is doing and what work states are doing. Thus using GARV app the minister is putting pressure on the state governments to deliver timely and quality delivery of power to rural areas.

The pace of rural electrification was so slow that it was going to take another decade before every village in India got electricity supply. That is the reason why the NDA government launched the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY). Thanks to this scheme rural electrification will be complete by May 2018 and it has also resulted in feeder separation and strengthening of rural distribution infrastructure.